From the Start
by Burning Beaker
Summary: A collection of one-shots for Rhysha, covering their romance from the Dome to long after the Vault. Fiona/Rhys BrOTP.
1. Fiona

Though she would later claim that she'd known all along, she didn't actually realize until she first made the mental comparison: ' _He's definitely better than August_ '. It had freaked her out, at first - why the hell would she ever compare them? Then she caught Rhys and Sasha exchange a smirk while they sat at the campfire. Oh. Oh shit. Sash had terrible taste. Seriously? This Hyperion nonsense?

Fiona quietly watched as Sasha explained to her surprisingly eager student about how to maintain a gun. As Rhys "helped" cook dinner one night, and made it take twice as long. As Sash took pity on him and helped his character out before her own sister's when they played that old table-top game. Sure, it could all be friendly - if it wasn't for the quirk in Sasha's smirks. The slightly faster reaction time when Rhys heard that Sasha needed something. Goddamn it, Sash, couldn't you choose a normal guy for once?

But, if she was really, honestly fair… they seemed like decent guys, at the very least. Rhys even more so. How he had ever learned to be compassionate she would never know, but he genuinely did seem to care about people. Sash had mentioned his call with his boss (the fact that she'd felt the need to share the story was evidence enough for Fiona's suspicions of a crush). Through their late-night discussions, he was slowly beginning to admit how shitty things were up in Helios. He tended to his Best Bro with more compassion than she'd thought a Hyperion capable of. If he wasn't careful she might have to admit to thinking him an okay guy.

And then, damn that idiot, he fessed up about Handsome Jack. Even in the moment, as she filled with rage, she acknowledged two things:

It was an incredibly difficult thing to admit to, and She'd better keep things calm or Sash's heart would shatter completely.

Because even Fiona had to admit that Sash and Rhys would be pretty cute together. So she'd tried, even then, to help him out a little bit with damage control.

* * *

They had looked for both guys. They really had. But it was so hard to keep their cover and look for two Hyperion dopes. And the more Fiona thought about it, the more she began to suspect that idiot had intentionally released Handsome Jack into Helios. God only knew how much of the shit that had gone wrong was because of Jack. Sasha was getting over it and keeping busy with Fiona's work and helping out Janey. So maybe Fiona didn't always look as hard as she could have.

* * *

She decided before the subject even came up - she'd bring in Sasha. Maybe Rhys wasn't so bad after all. If what he'd said was true - and he wasn't smart enough to lie that convincingly - then he was a lot stronger than she'd realized. A lot more moral. He'd stood up against the thing that could have fried his brain in an instant. He'd risked so much for his friends. He'd self-amputated to stop Jack. He was the least-unworthy person for Sash that Fiona had ever met. So she was happy to give Sash this little surprise.

And she might have felt a little guilty that he was still out tracking them down, long after she had given up.

* * *

Fiona slyly watched the two of them at breakfast. They were laughing and teasing Vaughn and each other. Sasha had stolen everyone's dragonfruit chunks, and Rhys had already been repulsed twice during his attempt to reclaim what was rightfully his. Eventually Sasha recanted and released her loot, and Fiona noted that Rhys just smiled and pushed back Sasha's hand when she tried to slip him his fruit. They were playful with everyone, but when Rhys managed to drop a pancake on his shirt, Sasha's laughing attention softened into affection. Oh god, Fiona's little sister was adoringly watching a corporate dope wipe pancake crumbs off his button-up shirt. And they were both offensively cute about it.

All in all it was damned inconsiderate. She liked Rhys, she really did. He was a good guy and during the times they weren't nearly dying they actually had a grand time together. If she were the sentimental sort she might call him her best friend. But then he had the audacity to realize how amazing a person her sister was, and start falling for her. Because that meant that Fiona had to distrust his doubtless lying, devious ass. No one was to be trusted with Sasha's heart, not even Rhys.

...except he was kinda to be trusted. Even from the start, he had been most definitely _not August_. Considerate, respectful, and blatantly, hopelessly smitten with Sasha. Good god, that whole flower thing had been the most disgusting, embarrassingly adorable thing Fiona had ever heard. And there were all the stupid times she'd caught Rhys watching Sasha - not her ass, not her in some unintentionally sexy pose, just watching with a smile as she went about her life. When Sash had-... had almost-... he had cried. He really cried, desperate to save her.

Ugh, fine, so _maybe_ she could _consider_ not shooting him in a dark alley.


	2. After the Fall

When… _it_ … was all over, when they were riding a hired truck home, Sash kept staring up at the Helios debris still in the sky. She'd been quiet, practical, and focused after Helios. Just the facts, nothing more, nothing less. It was an incredibly useful skill to have in their line of work… but eventually she had to face her emotions.

"...do you think he survived?" she whispered one night, as the truck bumped over rocks and skags.

Fiona thought long and hard about that one. "I… don't know. There were still escape pods when I left."

"We should find Vaughn," Sasha commented, still staring up at the remnants of Helios.

"Sash…" Fiona reached over and gripped Sasha's arm. She glanced over with a flash of sadness before quickly turning away. "We'll look for them both."

There was a long silence.

"He… at the dome. He put a flower in my hair."  
Fiona was thankful she wasn't driving, because she would have crashed. "What?!"

Sasha gave a little chuckle. "Yeah, well, it pissed off those floating bag things, _of course_. Rhys can't do anything… safely…" Her voice weakened, just a bit. Just enough for Fiona to hear it.

"He went off into the woods and found a flower?" Fiona prompted, equal parts supportive and nosy.

"No, no, there was this flowery tree thing, and I was looking at it…" Sasha's expression finally showed a modicum of the sadness in her heart. "It was… really pretty. When I turned around, there he was with one of the flowers. He put it right above my ear." She reached up for her goggles, but she'd left those at home for the damn corporate disguises. When her fingers grabbed air she sighed and dropped her hand.

"...god, that's cheesy as hell," Fiona said after a moment, hoping to get a smile. Sash tried a smirk and glanced at her sister.

"Yeah, I know, right? God, he was-" Her voice hitched. "Uh, he's so cheesy. He even said the place was romantic." Sasha looked up at Fiona's laughter and even joined in.

"What a dork!"

"I _know_!" Sasha laughed, turning her gaze to the horizon. "It's ridiculous," she ended in a murmur.

"...Sash. He's a smart guy. And he's got Loader Bot! If I can get out, he can."

Sasha's smile was almost sincere. "Yeah. I hope so."


	3. Before the Battle

"So, uh, new eye," Sasha commented as she caught up to him

"Yeah! Yeah, and-"

"New arm, too," she said conversationally, leaning over to look at it across his chest.

Rhys chuckled nervously. "Yeah, it, uh- I guess you could say I'm a self-made man now!"

"Wait, you _made-_ " Sasha started, but Fi came busting in, because _of course_ she had to.

"Hey googly eyes, come on, you gotta go help Vaughn."

* * *

Trying to clear his throat of the huge lump in it, Rhys tentatively stepped closer to the disheveled caravan.

"Uhhh, Sash? You there?" Oh god what if it was Fiona, she would kill him right there for daring to seek out her sister.

But when the door swung open Rhys actually had good luck, for a change. Sasha smiled at him and stepped out into the night air.

"Hey! What's up?" she asked, walking towards him. He moved closer too, but he must have been distracted because they ended up a bit more in each other's personal space than he would be cool with for anyone else.

"I, uh, brought you some…" He had to look at his hands to remember what he'd brought. "Fruit. Aaand I tried to bring you soup but I tripped on a rock, and then this eyeball came flying out," he tried not to gag, and failed, "so that, uh… that didn't work out so great."

Chuckling, she took a dragonfruit from his hand and had a bite. "Thanks! Come on, I could use your help. And you can tell me about your fancy-pants new cybernetics."

Soon he found himself laying on the ground, his hand casting light on a pipe she was tinkering with. He'd been recounting the events after they'd split on Helios, and as the story progressed she started to glance over at him more and more often.

"So he was getting all, you know, Handsome Jack-y-" Rhys said, waving his hands. Without looking, Sasha reached out and grabbed his wrist. Pulling his hand back into place, she kept working. Holy shit, she was touching him.

It occurred to her that he'd stopped talking. Looking at him quizzically, Sasha found him gaping at her. She froze too, unsure if this was him being weird, him getting hijacked, or if he was actually looking at a skag behind her or something. Then she tracked his eyes down to his wrist, which she was still holding. Oh. Quickly releasing him, she busied herself with the fuel line again.

"S-so, um… where was I?" he stammered.

"You'd just survived the landing and found Handsome Jack."

"O-oh, oh yeah, thanks. So, um, he was posturing, as usual, and…"

As soon as he said he picked up the shard of glass, a weight fell in the pit of her stomach. Putting down her tools, she scooted out from under the caravan to the description of him impaling and cutting off his own arm. She sat in front of him as he explained, with an air of his typical nonchalance covering his tenseness, how he tore out all his cybernetics. They both almost gagged at the eye thing.

Wow. She'd grudgingly admitted a while ago that he could, on occasion, end up doing brave things. But this… this took resolve. No matter how badly he wanted Jack gone, cutting out his eye implant was… hardcore.

"Rhys… that's really impressive," she interjected quietly, when he paused for breath. He immediately locked up and stared at her, wide-eyed.

"Wh-what is?"

"Getting rid of Jack." Sasha shuddered. "Ripping off your own arm, cutting out your-"

"Yeah!" he interrupted, turning a little pale, "yeah, it, uh, it wasn't a blast, let me tell you."

Sasha stretched over and rested a hand on his wrist. "You're really brave," she said softly. That appeared to break his mind. His eyes wide, he opened and closed his mouth a few times before finally squeaking, "Well, uh, thank you, I, um, really appreciate that."

Smirking, she echoed, "I appreciate you appreciating it."

As soon as he finished his story, he asked her how life had gone for her in the intervening time. She slid back under the caravan, pulling his hand with her for the light. She talked about how they'd looked for him, how Fi had gone all Vault-Huntery and she'd followed, but it never felt entirely right. How Hollow Point felt even less like home now, how she didn't know what she wanted to do with her life, but it wasn't the part-time mechanic work with Janey and it wasn't Vault Hunting.

By this point she'd finished her inspections, so they'd climbed up to the burnt-up roof and sat together in the warm night breeze.

"I… just don't know what I'm gonna do, after all this. I'll probably stick with Fi. I like excitement, but not… _this_ " she gestured at the valley with a sweep of her hand, "much."

"You'll do great at whatever you end up doing," Rhys said, his upfront sincerity surprising her. He seemed to honestly believe it. She wasn't used to anyone but Fi talking like that, and even she only did so occasionally.

"But, uh, hey," he continued, leaning back on his hands and looking at her with an expression that was probably meant to be cool, "if you're ever looking for a job, there's always a spot for you at Atlas."

Laughing, she leaned back too. Their hands were so close that all she'd have to do was stretch out her thumb… but that would make him freeze up again, and she was enjoying having an actual conversation with him.

"What, me become corporate scum?"

"Hey! I'm not corporate scum anymore!" He'd said it with levity in his tone, but she could tell her words had stung a little. Tearing her eyes away from the starry sky, she studied his face for a second.

"No," she agreed, "you're not." A pause. Her hand moved up to adjust her goggles, slung around her neck again. "Thanks. I'll… yeah, that might be nice one day."

He was smiling, small and true. A genuine display of happiness. It looked good on him.

They sat together in silence for a while, listening to the distant baying of skags and intermittent bursts of gunfire.

"S-soooo, how's, uh, Hollow Point?" he stammered. Sasha looked over at him suspiciously.

"I already told you. How hard did you say you hit your head?"

"N-no, I mean, the uh, people, how are they all-... Did you, uh, stay in touch with-"

"'How's August'," she filled in flatly. Seriously? Was this really an issue right now? It should be pretty obvious to Mr. People Person here that August was not a thing.

"How's August," he admitted in defeat. "It's just, Fiona said you rescued him on Helios, and I figured maybe, he and you, uh, I dunno…" Rhys trailed off into a mumble, suddenly fascinated by lights on the horizon, as far from her as he could look.

Oh, yeah, that. That had been supremely dumb. It'd been a stupid instinct. They _had_ been together for a while, after all, and he had just saved them from guards and from being left behind. But still…

"He's still an asshole, as far as I can tell. I don't talk to him," she replied, as nonchalantly as she could. She could see Rhys watching her, but she kept her eyes on the sky. Her fingers brushed against the lenses of her goggles.

"...Yeah, he is," Rhys agreed warily.

This idiot was so oblivious sometimes. Finally she looked at him, to find him still staring at her.

"I'm… really glad you're here. And- alive, too," she said, leaning a little bit closer to him.

Rhys released a breathy chuckle. "Thanks. I'm really glad too. I, uh… I really missed you."

"Yeah, it wasn't the same without you getting us in trouble all the time," she teased.

"Hey, it wasn't _always_ my fault!"

"Mostly you," she said, smirking.

"Fiona got us in trouble too sometimes," he said, a little sulkily, "And I got us out of almost every trouble I got us in."

"With help," she added.

He muttered to himself for a moment before allowing, "Alright, with help."

God, it felt so… _right_ , sitting here with him. She'd only ever felt this relaxed around her family. Rhys knew her, really _knew_ her, like she'd never allowed anyone else to know. He liked her, too. The real her. And… he was a good guy. Sure, he'd been corporate scum, but even then he must have been pretty decent to have such a strong friendship with Vaughn. She still remembered Rhys, pinned down in a gun battle on a planet he hated, refusing an offer to return to Helios because it endangered his friend. That was when she had first become willing to accept the possibility of entertaining the thought of allowing her minute crush on him to be a thing.

Now she was totally cool with having a huge crush on him. It only took a little lean to rest her cheek on his shoulder. "It's been one hell of an adventure, huh?"

His muscles were taut, his whole body stiffly stuck in place. After what was several moments of peaceful contemplation for her, and probably ten eons of careful thought and analysis for him, his arm shifted up to wrap across her back. His hand landed right above her scar.

"Yeah. I'm… I'm really glad you tried to embezzle me out of ten million." Rhys said that with actual sincerity, the dork.

Readjusting her position slightly, she replied, "Hey, you embezzled first."

"Yeah," he said dreamily, "I guess I did."

Sasha thought about just how much she should say. Then she figured, screw it, she might not be alive by this time tomorrow. "I'm really glad you tried to steal our caravan."

"To be fair, we thought you were gonna kill us," he commented, which was a fair point, "... I'm glad too," he added, softly.

They sat together for a few minutes, enjoying the relative peace and quiet. Then, _of course_ , they heard Fiona's voice from further down the ridge: "Sash! Are you up there?"

"Yeah," Sasha yelled back, probably deafening Rhys in one ear. Sighing, she got to her feet and held out a hand to him.

"Come on, we should get some sleep."

Back in the caravan, she caught his arm before he could grab the door handle.

"Hey, Rhys… tomorrow's gonna be pretty busy, so, uh…" Shit, this had seemed like a way better idea in her head.

Before she could wimp out or make things worse by talking, she yanked on his arm. Popping up on tiptoe, she caught his stumble towards her and quickly pressed a kiss to his cheek.

"Good luck kiss," she said tersely.

"Thanks," he said, his voice constricted, "you too."

Thank god the darkness hid their blushes. Fiona was suspicious enough as it was.


	4. After the Battle

"Sooo," Fiona suddenly piped up in the darkness of their room, "I… had a little chat with La-La-Loverboy."

"Fi…" Sasha sighed, more exasperated by the nickname than anything else.

"Aaand I asked if he, you know, well I mean I figured we were getting on so well that if I was ever going to have the chance to ask-..." Taking a deep breath, Fiona went all in. "I asked him if he was just trying to mess around with you or what."

" _Fi…_ " In what little light filtered under and through the holey door, Fiona could see Sash's uninjured arm move up for a facepalm.

"Well come on, it was now- uh, _then_ or never. _Any_ way he said yes, of course, I mean _duh_ , right? And I said, uh, well, I figured you wouldn't mind if I- I told him I thought you liked him too. Like him, I mean. I didn't say you don't like him anymore."

Oddly, Sash didn't groan, or even turn her head for an Annoyed Glare™. She just chuckled and asked, "What'd he say?"

"He said it was good to know-"

" _What?!_ " Sash jerked upright, so angrily that Fiona instinctively sat up too. "What do you mean, ' _good to know_ '?"

"Well, he seemed, uh, relieved I guess, maybe happy, I dunno, it's hard to tell with that guy…" Fiona looked up from the floor when light flooded the room. Sash was in the doorway, muttering to herself.

"Uhhh Sash, where ya going?"

"That moron! ' _Good to know_ ' my ass!" she exclaimed, pretty loudly for the middle of the night.

As she stormed out the door, Fiona processed everything enough to leap out of bed and yell down the hallway, "Wait, why shouldn't he be surprised?!"

* * *

"Rhys, you moron, wake up!"

Oh god, they never got a break, what was attacking at this hour? Groggily, Rhys flopped out of bed and staggered the four steps to the door. Sasha looked ready to keep hammering once he opened the door, but she resisted and just glared up at him.

"Wha-what's up, what's going on?" Rhys asked, sticking his head out into the hallway to look for raiders or... whatever.

"You idiot, what the hell do you mean, 'good to know'?"

"Huh?" Rhys finally focused on Sasha, and boy was that a mistake. A lovely, lovely mistake.

She was just wearing a sports bra and shorts, her hair held back in the usual headband. He could see that badass scar, raised and gnarly as ever on her arm. Oh god and here he was in only a ragged, too-small t-shirt and boxers he'd had since before he started up Atlas. Oooh god not good, not good at all, especially the boxers, she was gonna kill him.

Crossing her arms across her chest, Sasha took a step closer and hissed, "I'm not really sure how much clearer I can be, _moron_!"

"I-I'm sorry, I'm lost." He put a hand to the doorjamb and leaned against it, partially to look cooler and partially to stay upright in his semi-conscious state.

"Fi tells you I like you and you act like you don't even know?"

Entering panic mode almost out of habit, Rhys stood upright and held up his hands in surrender. "Well, I- I mean, I kinda hoped-"

"You _hoped_? Dipshit, I _kissed_ you!" Sasha threw her hand in the air in sheer annoyance.

"Well, just on the cheek-"

"Was that not good enough for you?"

Oh god even when she looked ready to murder him she was still so… stunning. She didn't have a stun baton on her, did she? "No, no, nonono, I just didn't want to _assume_ -"

"Assume what? That _maybe_ I don't just kiss random people and let them stick stuff in my hair and…" She trailed off, her cheeks red. Probably mostly from anger.

"Well," Rhys began, that nervous chuckle of his returning, "I'm, you know, this is- this is important, I don't wanna mess-"

"You've been flirting with me since, like, the beginning," Sash said dryly, doing the arm-cross thing again.

"Why thank you for noticing," Rhys replied, giving her a finger gun. It was always nice to have one's efforts finally recognized. But then he remembered she looked two seconds away from throwing him to the skags, and he flinched back.

"Rhys." Her voice was sharp, cool. "What the hell?"

"Look, I didn't wanna go _assuming_ you, uh, _liked_ me," he yammered, waving his hands, "because I don't wanna ruin everything by being awkward and weird and I… this is really important to me. _You're_ really important to me. And I can't afford to mess things up with you. So I-"

Sasha grabbed his shirt and yanked. The breath startled out of him, he got pulled down into a hunch, her face rapidly approaching. Oh geez she was gonna headbutt him and honestly he deserv-

Sasha kissed Rhys, right on the mouth. It took him a moment to comprehend, and another to build up the courage, before he tentatively put his hand to her waist. She was up on tiptoe, wrapping her arm around his neck. Leaning in against him, until he staggered back into his dinky room. His arms slipped around her, holding tight, mostly because he would have fallen over otherwise.

After thoroughly frying his brain, she pulled away. Looking at him with a lot of annoyance for someone who had just kissed him silly, she asked, "Is it clear now?"

Rhys's brain congealed enough for him to form words. "Sooo, we're, uh… dating?"

Sasha's angry expression broke into a laugh. "Yes, you airhead!"

The thought washed over him like a refreshing wave of… something nice. It was too late at night for prose.

"Really?" he asked no one in particular, squeezing her closer.

" _OW_! The _arm_!" she yelled.

"Shit! Sorry, sorry." He quickly released her, putting up his hands.

The pause, though filled with elation, still quickly became awkward.

"Sooo…" Sasha said, eventually.

"Yeah," Rhys agreed with a breathy chuckle, scratching the back of his head.

"I should probably go back to bed…"

"You- you, uh, don't have to," Rhys's mouth blurted out, without the words ever filtering through his brain. Sasha's eyebrow raised, and there came her Silently Judging™ face. "Oh, nono, I didn't mean-..." Rhys explained hastily, "I'm waaaay too tired to- and we don't even _know_ each other, that, ahem, well, so, I, just…" What little of his brain power that had been functioning was slowly melting away. Shit shit shit, this was why he couldn't have nice things.

"Rhys," she sighed, shaking her head with a little smile.

"No, I'm just saying, you could, you know, it's a long way back and-..." Oh, to hell with keeping up his cool pretense. "...I missed you."

Her other eyebrow lifted, her expression softening. Slowly it transformed into what he desperately hoped was affection.

"You can be adorable sometimes," she commented quietly. No one had ever told him that before. Well, not sincerely anyway. He was still trying to come up with something to say when she continued, "But it's still a bad plan, buckaroo. Everyone would see me leaving in the morning."

Deflating, Rhys nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"But I'm gonna hold you to that offer."

He looked up, smiling. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." She was smiling back. God, he'd missed her.

Sasha cleared her throat and glanced back at the hallway. "Well, I, uh, better head out."

"Y-yeah, of course."

If they were really dating, shouldn't he give her a goodnight kiss or something? His hands hovered near her as he tried to decide if their relationship was at that level yet. Sash looked first as his hands, and then up at him with a playful sparkle in her eye. Putting her hand on his shoulder, she pulled him back down to her height and kissed him. Again. Twice in one night! Man, he really was a lucky guy.

"Goodnight, Rhys," she whispered, stepping towards the door. His hand had come to rest on her elbow, and he regretfully let his fingers trail down to hers. But all his measly courage had been welling up; when she reached the door, her arm extended behind her in his grasp, he caught her. Closing the distance, he leaned in and kissed her back.

"I could definitely get used to this," he breathed, his face so close to hers. Oh thank god someone had given him a toothbrush.

Sasha laughed. "What, me sneaking out of your room in the middle of the night?"

In a flash his courage evaporated. His eyes widened in terror at the fresh possibility of having royally screwed things up. "No, no, I didn't mean-!"

Tugging on his hand, she guided him in for yet another kiss. That was, what, four times now? Holy shit. "I know what you meant, Rhys," she reassured gently, "and… I could too."

What had he ever done in his life to deserve this moment? How had he possibly earned the way she looked at him, all warmth and affection? He was pretty sure he'd already used up all his luck in just surviving.

"Alright, buddy, I really need to go to bed. This floor is frigging cold."

"Oh, yeah, sure, sure," he bumbled out, standing upright before he could be an idiot and keep kissing her. "Goodnight, Sash."

"Goodnight, Rhys. See you tomorrow."

For once it wasn't a question. He was guaranteed - well, as much as ever on Pandora - to see her again tomorrow. It was about damn time. Grinning, he held up a hand and waved as she crept down the hallway. Before she disappeared around the corner, she paused to look back at him. With a grin of her own, she waved back.

Oh boy, if Fiona changed her mind about him, he was a dead man. Because there was no way he was leaving Sasha ever again.


	5. Welcome to Atlas HQ

Sasha was just about to call him when the helo came into view. Finally. She'd already had to shoot four skags, and that was a quiet day for the exterior of Hollow Point.

To her surprise, Rhys hopped out. She'd been expecting him to just send a helo to pick her up. Less to her surprise, he hopped out before the helicopter even landed, which indicated he had not, in fact, been the pilot.

"Hey! I'm sorry we're late, there were some delays-"

Loader Bot got out of the cockpit and interrupted flatly, "He tried to fly and we almost died."

Rhys flinched. "Yyyeah, turns out I'm not as good at picking stuff up as I thought."

Sasha found this all very interesting, but it seemed to her that after not seeing him for two weeks she was owed her due. Clamping a hand on the back of his neck, she pulled him down for a kiss. He didn't argue.

After a bit, Loader Bot said, "Ahem."

Sasha released her boyfriend and slung her duffel bag onto her shoulder. "Nice ride, hotshot." It was quite an upgrade from the tiny one they used to borrow from Vaughn. This one actually had a cabin for passengers to sit in. Pretty big improvement from hanging off the landing struts.

"Thank you," both man and bot said, before looking at each other. Sasha just laughed and got aboard. Such better company than the folks in Hollow Point.

* * *

"...aand here's my office," Rhys said, gesturing to a nondescript office positioned near the center of the floor. Whatever had been written on the door before was painted over, replaced with two words in a sloppy print: _Rhys, CEO_.

" _This_ is your office?" she asked, gesturing at the door. Hardly a CEO kind of office.

"Yeah, it's, uh, not much, but that's kinda the point," he said, rubbing his arm.

She stared at him staring at the door. "Jack's office," she hazarded eventually. Rhys looked at her mournfully.

"Yeah."

"Good. I'd hate to have to kill you," she said with a smile, stepping into his office. Rhys followed with an understandably nervous laugh.

The office was small and undecorated, aside from a sad little cactus on a table in one corner, and a couple of frames on his desk. As she headed for the Chair of Atlas, Rhys went on about his plans for adding a totally normal, completely unremarkable shelf against one wall.

"I don't know what the thing is down here, but on Helios particleboard would be my go-to choice… for…" He trailed off when he realized she was staring at the photos on his desk. Rhys stepped over to her side and joined her in admiring the pictures.

One was of him and Vaughn after their, as Fiona had described it, Brotastic moment atop Loader Bot. In the corner, in a really garish font, was printed 'Bro Selfie'. These two scruffy pieces of corporate garbage looked genuinely happy just to be friends.

One was of the whole gang, crowded around Fiona in the driver's seat during their big drive to the Dome. Rhys was holding up Vaughn, Sasha and Fiona were giving each other bunny ears, and the robots were mostly confused. She'd forgotten that she'd given him bunny ears too, and she hadn't realized he'd returned the favor.

One was of her cleaning her SMG on the couch in the caravan. She remembered him asking if she'd mind if he took a photo. It'd been weird, at the time, and she'd wondered if it was part of a betrayal he was planning. But even then she trusted him, so she'd said yes. He must have called out to her, because in the photo her expression was one of mild annoyance as she looked up from the barrel in her hands.

One was a photo of the two of them, taken up on the ridge at Helios. She'd just kissed him, and his cheeks were still rosy. He wasn't looking at the camera like she was. He was looking at her, lo- affection in his gaze. She'd caught him with that expression before, but to see it like this… it hit her in the chest.

"Oh! Yeah, look, when I was in Hollow Point looking for you one time, I found this!" he said suddenly, jogging over to the wall on the side of the desk. It was a wanted poster for her, encased in plastic.

Chuckling in awe that he'd found it, she moved closer to inspect it. "Wow, that's really old."

"Oh, r-really?" His shoulders sunk and his voice twinged. "I, uh, when I was looking for you… I thought it was maybe new. I was hoping it meant you were still alive."

Wow. She hadn't thought about how he'd looked for them. How hard it must have been for him, especially since he was all alone. He must have been really desperate, to actually come to Hollow Point. God, they'd probably been in town at the same time, and she hadn't even known.

Drawing in a breath, Rhys reassured (himself), "Doesn't matter now though, does it?" A forced laugh as he slipped an arm around her.

"I… didn't realize you were looking for us in Hollow Point," she murmured.

Rhys shrugged and guided her back to his desk. "Eh, it's ok, you didn't know I was alive. Anyway it was nice to have another picture of you. I… well, this was what I had." He gestured at the framed photos.

Sighing, she sat in his chair and looked at the photos. "I didn't have _anything_ from you," she commented heavily. She didn't have a fancy camera in her arm, and a normal camera had not been high on the shopping list during all their hijinks. The only thing she had to remind herself of him was that suit, but it also reminded her of the place that, at the time, she thought had killed him. All that was left was a fading memory of his face.

The weight of his hand on her shoulder made her look up at him. His eyes were full of concern, his brows furrowed.

There were a few moments of silence - almost a mourning. Then he piped up nervously, "Hey, uh, I have one more thing to show you." He offered his hand.

It felt so right to walk hand-in-hand with him.

* * *

The lab space held a bunch of the old Atlas folding crates, wedged between random desks he must have scavenged from elsewhere in the building. Tools and materials were haphazardly stored everywhere, piled high on table tops and stuffed in crooked shelves.

"I, uh, found schematics for one of Atlas's SMGs-"

"What? Which one?" Sasha perked up immediately, scanning the desks for a gun.

"Uhhh the Centaur, I think."

Her shoulders dropped a little. "Oh." With a shrug, she resumed studying the room. "Still a nice weapon."

"Ah, well," he said, brandishing a finger as he reached to sweep crap off of one of the chests, "you maaaay be surprised." He hesitated before hitting the button. "...hopefully," he muttered.

He watched her face as the gun raised up on the dusty platform. Her eyes widened, her mouth curving up into an open smile.

"No-recoil stock, what is that, fire upgrade? Stability boost…" She carried on muttering about its specs as she carefully picked it up.

Rhys watched her turn the gun over and over, her eyes twinkling as she excitedly talked away about it. Eventually she remembered he was there, and she looked up at him.

"This is pretty cool," she said, grinning a lot for something that was just 'pretty cool'.

Rhys had been thinking of an awesome speech for weeks. He'd even practiced it on the way there. He knew it wasn't the best gun out there, but he'd added every upgrade he could find. He'd read every piece of research in the Atlas servers. He'd hand-made every piece… and then hunted down the best metalsmith he could find and had all the pieces made properly.

He had all this to say. And all he managed was a quiet, "I made it for you."

Sasha lowered the gun, the excitement melting away into solemnity. She studied his face as he carefully avoided her gaze.

"Rhys… thank you," she breathed.

That drew his eyes to hers. Gently resting his fingertips on the gun, he said, "The S-Sasha Special. I, uh, I thought they'd-..." His voice had broken. He scrubbed away the tears and sniffed, rather piteously.

Sasha put down the SMG and grabbed his arms. "Rhys…"

"I thought-..." he tried again, choking back a sob, "I thought they'd killed you. This was… I-..."

Stretching up onto her tiptoes, Sasha wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. Crying against her mouth, he enveloped her in a hug and squeezed her close.


	6. Brother-in-law

"Hey."

Rhys jumped, accidentally catapulting the bite of pancake on his fork across the room. He looked up to find Fiona watching the pancake chunk slide down the wall, a distinctly unimpressed expression on her face. Then she crossed her arms, and Rhys knew he was in Trouble.

"H-hey Fi, what's up? I… was definitely not expecting you. Kiiiinda concerned how you got in without me noticing, to be honest." Ah, his traditional defense of aimless blabbering.

Fiona pulled out the chair next to him and sat, keeping her cold gaze focused on him. Oh god, she was gonna murder him and he didn't even know why.

"So. Are you gonna be my brother-in-law or what? Cause I really gotta prepare emotionally if I'm gonna have to point to a corporate hotshot and say he's related to me. Do you have any idea what that'll do to my reputation?"

Rhys's brain could not handle this level of complexity. Which answer did she want? Which answer would get him out of this alive?

"Rhys," she prompted, leaning a bit closer, "Breathe. I'm not gonna kill you." If she'd thought the answer was going to be anything other than yes, her statement might not be so truthful. But she knew Rhys well enough to see how utterly devoted he was to Sash. He just needed a little encouragement once in a while.

"I-I-I… obviously, I would love to- um, well, you know, but I, uh, don't know how Sash-..." Sighing, he watching his fingers turn the fork over and over. "I don't know what she wants to do."

"Now this may come as a surprise, but you can actually talk to her. Right to her face and everything," Fiona teased.

"Heh. How do I ask that?" Rhys asked the fork, "'Hey, are you planning on ditching me or what?'"

Snorting, Fiona replied, "Come on, what do you _think_ she wants?"

"What if I'm wrong?" Rhys suddenly met her gaze, momentarily startling her. Sighing, he put up a hand when she started to speak. "I know, 'better to find out now', but I can't. I-... I can't face it. I don't want to lose her again." Swallowing thickly, he swung his eyes away, apparently to study crack in the wall.

Oh for-... this guy was just too adorable. "Hey, buddy, relax. If it helps, I've never seen her like this. Not even close. She's-... she's a big fan. Ok?"

He tore his gaze away from the utterly fascinating failure in engineering and looked at Fiona again. "Did she say something?" he demanded eagerly.

Chuckling, Fiona got to her feet. "Even if she had told me anything, I wouldn't tell you. Sister confidentiality." When he opened his mouth, panic in his eyes, she added, "This conversation is confidential too. Don't worry."

Tipping her hat, she headed for the door. "W-wait! Did you… seriously drive all the way here to torture me?"

Fiona shrugged. "Eh, it was on the way."

Rhys just groaned and got to his feet. They performed their traditional hug, which involved each squeezing harder and harder until someone capitulated. It was a silly ritual, and they'd made it a competition to ignore the actual emotional significance behind the gesture. Because they real reason they hugged was that life had made them keenly aware that this could be the last time they saw each other. Nobody wanted to think about that - hence the compression challenge. She won this round, though she couldn't help but feel it was an unfair fight today.

Pausing in the doorway, she looked back at him. "By the way, ventilation."

"Huh?"

She pointed at the open duct cover in the ceiling. "Always the weak point," she said with a smile, waving to him as the doors slid shut.

* * *

"So… give me a heads up before you make that cheesy corporate nerd my brother-in-law, huh?" Fiona requested politely, idly handing Sasha the cleaning fluid she'd requested.

Sasha froze and stared at her sister in complete confusion. "Excuse me?"

"Well, knowing you two, there's fifty-fifty odds you'll just elope. I need time to brace myself emotionally to be forever linked to that guy. It's gonna be hell on my reputation as a badass Vault Hunter."

Sasha turned her glare to the bolt she was polishing, as though it were the cause of all her problems.

"I… don't know where we're going."

"Do you know where _you_ want it to go?" Fiona asked, kicking her legs off the table.

"I know I don't want to lose him." Sasha's voice had grown tense, and she was scrubbing the bolt with extreme prejudice.

"Sounds like you're in for the long haul."

" _I_ am."

"So you don't think he is?"

Sasha paused in her fretful cleaning, her mournful gaze on the bolt. "I like to think he is. But I thought Felix was too." She looked over at her sister, who was leaning closer. Fiona's hand enveloped Sasha's as she sighed, "I don't want to be wrong twice."

"Rhys is a good guy. He _adores_ you." God, not only did she have to be related to an ex-Hyperion, but here she was defending him.

"I know," Sasha said, tugging at her goggles.

"C'mon, he's a big ol' softy. You know he'd melt if you got married."

There was a little smile, at least. "He would have so much fun planning the wedding."

Fiona snorted. "Hell yeah he would. He 'n Janey would have a blast."

Sasha tapped the table with the bolt, her eyes focused on the opposite wall.

"Do you… really think he's…?" she asked the wall.

"Duh." _He wouldn't be alive if I thought otherwise_ , Fiona added mentally.

Sasha pondered this concept for a while. So long, in fact, that Fiona gave up and went back to flicking cards at the hat rack across the room. She had almost managed to get a card stuck on one of the hanging hats when Sasha startled her: "What should I give him?"

"Socks?" was Fiona's automatic answer. Sasha looked at her with exasperation.

"I'm not giving him engagement socks."

Whoa, it was a hundred times weirder to hear Sash seriously talking about engagement. A nice weird, but weird nonetheless. It took Fiona a few moments to fully process.

"How about a ring? Nice and simple."

Sasha thought about this, her fingers idly spinning the bolt. "Ok, yeah, I can make a ring." Her gaze turned to Fiona. "Thanks!"

Sasha went back to her business as though nothing had happened. As though she hadn't just been talked into marriage with a two minute conversation. As though she hadn't just decided to spend the rest of her life with a person.

As though Fiona's little kid sister had not just said she was going to get married.

"...what, that's it?" Fiona demanded. Sasha looked at her, brows raised curiously.

"Huh?"

"I had a harder time convincing you to eat your vegetables!"

The rag paused mid-scrub on the bolt. "I… I just needed to hear it from you," Sasha told the rag.

Fiona stretched to hold her sister's hand again. "You'll be happy together," she reassured, adding with a smirk, "Or I'll shoot his sorry ass."

Laughing, Sasha leaned over to hug Fiona. "I know we will. Thank you."

The little dork started humming as she cleaned the rest of the bolt assembly. God, the two cheesy nerds deserved each other.


End file.
